chapter 4 -
lycaon ★彡
"they fight me, vigorous and angry, watch them pounce"
☆*:.｡. o♢o .｡.:*☆
Every voice was hushed by the eeriness of the confined space, not a word was spoken into the thick atmosphere which amplified any surrounding sound. The clock ticking in the corner, each thought coming with a tick and flashing away with a tock. The longer the silence drew on, the louder that ticking got, until it reached a peak where it was almost like every movement and thought was controlled by this eminently quiet sound now like a blaring scream.
The first person that took initiative of the silence was the out of place guest who sat at the end of the table, pushing the scraps of fat around his plate,
„This tasted good, Mrs Jeon." Sohyun looked up from her own plate, giving a gentle smile of gratitude as she thanked Taehyung for both the kindness and the attempt to soften the tense atmosphere. Then the silence returned and the blonde boy ended up dragging his eyes around the room so that he could take in the new space. His mind was whirring with thoughts which quickly dissipated when he noticed the small boy sitting stiff in his chair, hardly having touched his meat. The vegetables were gone, but now he was left staring at the white meat with a tight jaw and lidded eyes.
„Is everyone finished?" Sohyun continued to talk on the topic of the meal, checking each plate before stopping at her son's plate. „You didn't eat your meat baby." She commented, raising an eyebrow because it used to be the first thing he would finish when he was young. The way his body tensed up was unnerving, like a string pulled too tight and ready to snap.
With a slight movement Kook managed to shake his head, withdrawing his hands from the cutlery to curl up into fists in his lap. All whilst his eyes never left the plate. „Why not?"
„Cannot ..." his voice was slurred, words sounding mispronounced and muffled. Without saying anymore, Kook pushed his dinner away from him, bringing a hand to his head as he shuffled to lift his legs over the side of his chair. Before he could move further his father's booming voice stilled him.
„Jungkook, we want you to stay at the table." Kook refused to respond, slumped over his chair as he clutched his head in his hands and raked his fingernails over the sides of his thick black hair. Taehyung watched him in an apprehensive silence, heart palpitating with an unsettling sense of danger. „Sit back with us, Jungkook." Shiwoo rose his voice slightly, sharp and domineering despite trying to be calm. His fists were tight against the table, mind reeling with faded memories of the discord that his son had once created at the dinner table. Fifteen years later he didn't know what to do. In panicked fear his eyes flickered over to Taehyung who was desperately shaking his head and mouthing: Something's wrong.
„Kook ... are you feeling alright?" Taehyung worried gingerly, moving to approach the boy. The decision was regretted instantly when Kook began to growl at him; a low deep throat growl that was all too familiar to Taehyung as he pulled back quickly when the small boy stood abruptly. „Hey." He called, keeping himself distanced to watch the boy sway.
„Do not touch me. Do not come near me." Kook implored heinously, fingers dug into his scalp as he took one step towards the door, eyes squeezed shut and small stifled whimpers coming from somewhere deep in his throat.
„Kook wait. Please just tell me what's wrong." No additional word slipped the silent boy's lips, nothing further indicated he wanted to communicate with Taehyung. Yet as he went to bolt, his enlarged round eyes came into view with the slow rising of his head, and Taehyung felt his breath get caught as the bright elusive gold irises stared back at him with pleading fear. Then the boy ran away, stumbling down the hall and faintly the slamming of the bathroom door could be heard; the only sound in the stilled silence.
It felt like years passed, and yet no one said a word. Taehyung stood with his hip resting against the door frame, glancing down the hall as he felt two daunting stares on his posture. „Before you ask, I can't explain that to you."
„Why not? What is going on with him? You've been keeping secrets since he came back and I have tried to leave it be, but this is getting out of hand! What aren't you telling us?" Shiwoo argued with a restless anger that brought him to his feet and toward his son's partner. Taehyung remained expressionless, the anger this man was seething looked like nothing compared to the true outrage in his own father's features when Taehyung had come out to him.
His exact words had been: Father, I will not date my sister's best friend; firstly, because that is just an appalling suggestion; and second, i would very much rather date her boyfriend. His head had blown off, and it was no encouragement when Taehyung stood with a silly smirk on his expression. Unfazed at the time. Little did he know that that decision to express his sexuality so heartlessly would come crashing down on him the moment he graduated.
„I cannot explain it in the right words. Never have my words done me or anyone else good; but I can show you, only if he will let me." Sohyun tugged her husband back to his seat, shaking her head at him as she turned to Taehyung and nodded without a single word. Obviously she was scared, her son had been digging his fingernails into his scalp.
With the reassurance that the two wouldn't lose it, he ducked out of the room and strode down the corridor, putting extra spaces in his steps to reach the exterior of the bathroom door with a minimal waste of time. Releasing a slow breath and psyching himself up, he tapped his knuckles against the wood and waited. Even after waiting two minutes, no response or even movement could be heard from within the confined space. Not wasting a second he tugged the door handle down, pushing it open and slipping inside.
The first sight that could be seen was the several garments spread across the surface of the tiled floor, they made a trail to the bathtub where Kook sat curled up near the faucet clad in nothing more than fabric boxers. Taehyung rose an eyebrow at this, noting that Kook still had his hands firmly pressed to his temples.
Then the noise that had continued without Taehyung noticing grew louder, a low mewl, a deep distressed whine that was very much like that of a wounded dog.
„Kook, please look at me." Taehyung eased in the words, stepping towards the shivering pasty boy. When he reached up to touch the boy's wrists, Kook snapped his head up with an audible crack of his neck. Like lightning and before Taehyung could even register the first movement his skin was pierced by clawing fingernails and large evenly spaced cuts ran down his left cheek.
Kook fell back against the bathtub's rim, whimpering as he kept his palm over his mouth and shook his head profusely; unable to verbally communicate his need to be away from anyone else. Taehyung held his stinging cheek, tears glazing over his eyes to create a haze of blurry distress that seemed to drown Kook's features. Though he didn't miss the clumps of silver in amongst the black. Silver fur that extended down the side of Kook's head and covered the place his ears should have been. Now replaced with deformed ears atop his head, twitching with the amplification of each seemingly quiet noise, sounding like a deafening scream to Kook amidst the torturous contortion of his mind and body. Ever since he was young he had hated the overwhelming shift between human and beast, his head splitting in two as he held the urge to scream and rip his head off.
„Do not look at me! I cannot be here near you or them! I ... I... I will kill you..."
„Hey, Kook, look at me and breathe." Taehyung begged, watching Kook tearing his skin from his calves with his nails that were of an odd shape and length. „I need you to work with me, darling." He continued without putting much thought into his words, pulling the boy into his embrace. „You need to show your parents. Show them what you are dealing with."
„No not like this!" Kook whimpered feebly, burying his head into the older's chest, curling up the shirt in his fist and attempting to stifle a growl of deep discomfort. Taehyung gingerly touched the boy, keeping his affection gentle as he ran a finger across the foreign silver ears. So soft, like silk slipping through his fingertips. „H-agh, do not do that." Kook whined, his back arching as a murring sound erupting from his throat as Taehyung pulled away.
„You ... what was that noise?" Kook's face grew hot as he looked down shamefully, shuddering from the mortifying responses that he was gradually losing control of. „Please let me help you, you don't have to do this alone anymore." He nodded slowly, whispering with a thick rasp that didn't sound like his voice at all,
„Cannot put ... clothes on... they irritate my skin and I –"
„It's okay." Taehyung cut him off with a chaste kiss to his lips, supporting the boy as he lifted him, fingers brushing across the foreign feeling of a soft patch of fur at the base of Kook's back. What is - „OH MY GOD YOU HAVE A TAIL!" He shrieked, head shooting over the boy's shoulder to see the silver tail flicking. Kook flinched and his ears pushed back as he buried his nose into the older's shoulder, the loud noise shooting straight to his migraine.
„Do not touch it... beast does not like it and if I do not like something ..." he trailed off and ran a finger down his boyfriend's cheek where the shallow scratches were clotting over. „I get angry."
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Taehyung stopped at the kitchen door where he heard the hushed conversation of the boy's parents. The latter had already heard their voices when they were halfway down the hallway, pouting at the comments they were making about his disappearance. He whined to show his disapproval and fear of the situation, tucking his head under the older's chin. Taehyung pushed the door open to the kitchen, noting the way Kook was pressing up against him and expressing himself.
The moment the entry revealed the boy to his parents, they both fell to silence. For the first thing they saw was the long, flared out fur of silver that emerged from beneath his skin. Slowly, he let Kook slip his feet down so they landed with a soft thud on the floor. Almost instantly he tried to melt into his boyfriend, the eyes of his guardians glued to his back.
„Kook, don't be scared." Taehyung soothed, stroking his cheeks that were pressed against the purple flannel shirt he wore. He kept a strong glare on the boy's parents, silently pleading for them to understand the situation and keep calm. „Shiwoo ... your son has this thing... a wolf." The man didn't respond, instead his eyes shone with a wondrous amazement at the tail swishing in distress as it seemed to curl between his legs.
„He has a tail." Sohyun mumbled, hands clenched on the table cloth as she bit her lip, eyeing off her husband who was in a trance. There was some silent communication happening between the two that was too difficult for Taehyung to read.
„You are..." Shiwoo began, shocked eyes focusing on the silver fur that was beginning to cover every part of the boy's skin, joints struggling to hold onto their human form. With a cautious movement, Kook turned to face his parents, still whining and crying like a lost puppy as he stared at them with a guilty gaze. „Oh baby, your eyes! They're beautiful." The words spoken by his father took Kook by surprise, but he let the man step forward and touch his bare shoulders as he dropped to his knees. The response was an immediate positive and it confused him. „You are beautiful Jungkook, a silver wolf?"
„I need to go away." Kook whimpered, a high pitched shriek almost. He looked away as his father touched his deformed fingers. „Or else I will hurt someone."
„Has this happened before? How long has this been going on? Why haven't you told anyone?" The questions were overwhelming but Kook understood why they had to be asked. This wasn't normal, they couldn't grasp the concept of him being a mythological metamorphosis.
„A long time. One time, I lost control of ... this here ... I ..." his eyes widened in realisation, jolting his head around to stare up at Taehyung who gave him a weak smile, running his thumb across his chin. „Tae, the scratches on my door ... from last time. Lock me in my room!" He exclaimed desperately, turning to his mother and giving her a pleading glance; she wouldn't look at him directly.
„Are you sure about this Kook? Don't you need to be somewhere more open?" Taehyung quavered, chewing on his lip as he was still not liking the idea. Sure the room held him when he was three, but he was twenty now. That door couldn't hold him if he truly wanted to get out.
Though he didn't have much more time to think because suddenly Kook released a violent snarl, pulling away from his father as he shot a hand to his head and growled into his arms.
„Hagh ... Please just tie me up. I need to get away from you." Taehyung gave a stiff nod, understanding that he shouldn't mess with a distressed Kook, let alone an angry wolf Kook. He took the boy in his arms, stumbling down the hall and dropping the sweating boy against his desk.
„What do I tie you up with?!" The older panicked, looking frantically around the room for anything that would hold an animal.
„Ask my father ... for belts ?" Kook suggested with his dwindling conscience, shoving his head into his hands as he tried to control himself and keep the beast at bay. „Just ... get four and connect them. Tie one end to the bed post and the other around me." Taehyung nodded, spinning on his heel and running to the door, though he came to an abrupt halt when Shiwoo appeared in the doorway.
„Rope. It will hold him. We had a dog a long time ago and it was a relatively vicious one. Please make sure he will be alright." The concern in Kook's father's eyes outweighed the fear he held for his son and it made Taehyung glow with warmth.
„Of course Mr Jeon." Then he shut the door, turning to see the boy was curled up on his desk, panting and straining every muscle in his body. Without wasting a second, he used his extensive knowledge on knots to try and keep the rope secure.
„Do not come in here when I am like this. I will probably kill you."
„Thanks." Taehyung drawled with sarcasm lacing his tone, he tied the final knot grinning with satisfaction. „C'mere." He called, watching the boy hop down from the desk, collapsing to the carpet by the older's side, back arching as he groaned. The sight of his fingers transitioning to claws was creepy, making Taehyung nearly throw up at the sight.
He worked quickly, bringing the rope up to Kook's throat and tying it into a loop around it like a noose. However he kept it loose enough so that the boy would be able to breathe just fine. „You sure you'll be okay in here? You don't need water or food?"
„No! Tae get out!" Kook screamed, head resting against his arms as he suppressed violent snarls, breathing heavily with every bit of energy in his body, trying to control himself so that he wouldn't completely lose it on his boyfriend.
„Okay ... I will come check on you in the morning." For a moment, Kook grew silent, mouth open as he gaped, breathing heavily as he tried to say something, cheeks hot with what looked to be embarrassment. But before he could say anything his body convulsed and a low yet loud growl escaped and his claws dug into the carpet. Taehyung scrambled to his feet and stepped away from the boy who was slipping away by the second.
He watched the true beast inside of Kook unfold in his presence, tears swirling like hypnotising lights in front of his eyes as he rested a hand against the door handle. No. how can I leave him like this? But this wasn't him, this wasn't Kook. The boy he loved was gone, and in his place was an animal that held no sentimental regard for him. „I love you." He choked out, hoping his boy had heard.
Then he shut the door and locked it with a key he had been given. Carefully, he slipped it into his pocket before resting against the wall. He shut his eyes, jaw tight as tears fell silently down his cheeks unwillingly, listening to the angry howl of a wolf tied up. This is who he is. Kook is a beast.
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/n: for those who don't know what/who the chapter title is; lycaon was a king according to greek mythology who basically served zeus the skin of his brother to test if he really was omniscient. zeus found out and essentially punished him by turning him into a wolf.
a lycaon is also an American wild dog.